


Clingy and Distant

by Prompt_Master



Category: Be More Chill - Iconis/Tracz
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fighting, M/M, Trans Rich Goranski
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-07
Updated: 2017-09-07
Packaged: 2018-12-24 20:02:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12019974
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Prompt_Master/pseuds/Prompt_Master
Summary: When Rich gets into a fight with Jake, he goes to none other than Jeremy Heere for comfort





	Clingy and Distant

The one thing Jeremy didn’t expect that night was for Rich to come knocking at his door at about 10 o clock. Jeremy thought that it would maybe be Michael, his best friend came over at random times when he was anxious or just needed company. So Jer didn’t bother to make himself decent, he stood at the door, toothbrush in mouth, and hair a flop of curls. He instantly knew something was wrong when Rich didn’t make fun of him, just glaring at the ground waiting to be let in. 

The next ten maybe fifteen minutes were spent in a semi-comfortable silence. The main reason it was only semi-comfortable was that it was silence, Rich never really had these silent moments. Jeremy couldn’t help but be worried. He let the boy in, closing the door behind him and doing basically all the work for him. He took off his jacket, gave him a cup of orange juice and he sat him on the couch. He left only to rinse the minty foam out of his mouth. He came back to find Rich in the exact same position: sitting in his couch and staring sadly into the cup of orange juice. 

Jeremy sat down across from him, playing with his hands awkwardly in his lap. For a second he wished the SQUIP could help, the sync would have let him know what was wrong and how Rich wanted help. Jeremy just wasn’t as good as reading people as Michael was. Rich finally moved, but it was only to clench the cup tighter, his face curling up into a pained expression. One of anger and sadness. 

Jeremy took a deep breath, “Do you uh…wanna talk about it?” He cringed at how not-very-comforting that was. 

At first Rich stayed the way he was, and Jeremy could feel his heart jumping with concern. Until, that is, Rich took a long slow sip of the drink and placed the cup down on a coffee table. “…I don’t know.” 

Jeremy frowned, “I thought you were staying at Jake’s place now?” Rich cringed, letting Jeremy know he touched a nerve, “…Did something happen with Jake?”

“…We uh, we got into a fight.” 

Jeremy eyes widened, a fight? How was he supposed to help with that? Rich sunk into his couch, covering his face with his hands as he heaved a sigh. “It was pretty nasty…things were said.” 

“Well…what happened?”

Rich looked up at his, his brown eyes filled with so much emotion. Jeremy knew that as much as Rich refused to admit it, the SQUIP had damaged him the most. Jeremy had only had his for a few short months and he had PTSD, imagine Rich who had it for two, almost three years. He knew that if nasty things were said in a fight, Rich could completely break down. Hell, Jeremy didn’t even know what was said but if he got into a fight with Michael he’d probably break down before anything bad could be let out. He never got how Rich could hold up so strong even now, looking at him with tired eyes. 

“…Well, it’s a long story.”

He wasn’t lying about it being a long story. Rich sat there and retold the tale of how he ended up here. The most unsurprising thing about the whole ordeal had to be the build up. It was no secret that Jake was always busy doing something. Parties, clubs, sports, trying to figure out where the hell his parents had run off to, jobs. Especially the jobs part. Jake needed to do two, and was now considering three, jobs to hold up his motel room and bills. And he kept all the clubs and parties up because well…Jake coped with distractions. It was incredibly lonely with his parents always doing their own…not-so-legal thing and leaving him behind to fend for himself. If he completely fills his schedule then there’s no reason to feel upset, right? Well the problem with that was that it left his boyfriend laying alone in their shared bed all alone, staring up at the ceiling hoping nothing had gone wrong. 

So the other night Rich kinda snapped. He missed Jake and he missed dates and being with him all the time. He felt like…like Jake didn’t care about him anymore. So that night when Jake rolled into the motel room and didn’t even say hello back to Rich? He just let it all spill. It was entirely random, thinking back on it. And Jake was clearly startled, he was halfway from his wheel chair to the bed when it happened. To Jake he hadn’t done anything, he probably didn’t even hear Rich. All he did was not say a simple hello, and now he had this boy sobbing in front of him. 

When Rich had finally stopped yelling: “Fucking hell you’re just never around anymore Jake! Do we even matter?! Do I even matter? You’d rather go partying with Dustin than your own fucking boyfriend!” Jake had almost nothing to say. Almost. 

Jake finished climbing into the bed, facing away from Rich as he moved to take his shoes off “Dude, you’re overreacting. Go to bed, alright?” 

Rich could physically feel himself going numb with emotions, he ground his teeth together viscously “Overreacting? Over…overreacting?! Jake we haven’t hung out for three fucking months!” Rich dragged his hands down his face, the tears building up in heavy flow. 

Maybe it was the furious tone in Rich’s voice, but Jake found himself unable to listen to him even now “Alright so I’ve been busy! So what? I have a life outside of you, Rich!” Jake threw one of the shoes against the wall with a loud thud, not handling the sudden accusations well.

Rich jumped at the thud that followed as Jake threw another shoe. His heart racing and pounding and thudding. Everything inside of him was shaking and screaming, there was no going back now “A life outside of me or a life without me?!” 

Jake turned his neck around fast to face Rich, his expression filled with pure annoyance and anger, even at the fat tears rolling down the others face he didn’t relax “What the hell do you want me to do dude?”

“Oh gee, I don’t know, maybe care about me for once!” 

“You know what Rich you’re just acting like a clingy girlfriend!”

The very second that was yelled a silence and through them, only staring at each others face as the yell echoed in both of their minds. They were both out of breath, panting, unable to process what had happened. Even Jake hadn’t processed what he’d said. Once he did though, he completely regretted it. He saw the way Rich suddenly flinched and covered his mouth, the words finally hitting him. Rich held a wide eyed and shocked expression, one as though a fucking truck were about to hit him. He didn’t take his eyes off of Jake, the words repeating themselves into his mind. He could hear the SQUIP already, laughing and telling him “I always told you that’s all you are to people” 

Jake didn’t even believe he had said it himself, he knew how dysphoric Rich was. He instantly felt like an asshole, the guilt already bubbling inside him and making want to quickly roll off a cliff. His mind felt fuzzy, why wasn’t he apologizing? Rich’s mouth was opening and closing, as though he couldn’t find words.

“You…”

“Rich…shit I-” he was cut off by Rich standing up and grabbing a jacket. 

“Rich where are you-”

“Leave me the fuck alone!”

“Rich I didn’t-”

“I said leave me the fuck alone, Jake!” 

Rich grabbed his phone and made his way to the door. Jake cringed at the furious air around him, he’d really fucked up this time. “Wait Rich, I didn’t-”

“What?! You didn’t mean to?!”

“I-”

“Fuck you, Jake!” Then there was a slam of the door. A violent slam that shook the walls. Jake didn’t even realize he was holding his breath, hugging himself close. There was a silence, he looked over to where Rich was laying before the fight started. There were little tear stains on his pillow. “Shit.”

And that’s how Rich ended up walking a couple miles to Jeremy’s house, not knowing who else to go to. 

At some point during the story Jeremy had moved from sitting across from Rich to sitting next to him. There was a hand on his back as Rich cried, his words babbled and stuttered, hard to understand. 

“Rich I’m…I’m really sorry man” 

He shook his head, rubbing the side of his fist into his eye to stop the tears. “I…fuck he’s right dude I overreacted”

“No…no it’s ok, I get it, you just wanted to spend more time with it. Maybe you could have explained that in a calmer way but..he shouldn’t have said that.”

“I know he didn’t mean it…so why’s it hurt so much?”

Jeremy felt a small pang in his chest, that’s probably exactly how Michael felt on Halloween. “It really hurts to hear it from someone you love, I guess? It’s…harder to deny, you know?” 

“Yeah, I know. But what am I gonna do?” 

“Why don’t you stay the night? You can chill out in the guest room.”

He nodded, “Thanks for listening Jerbear, that’s all I really needed” he smiled 

Jeremy smiled back “Anything for you man.”

“Anything?”

“Well not anything, but you get the idea.”

“Damn..I was hoping to make you strip in front of Michael”

“Wha- Rich!!” 

–

Jeremy hummed sleepily as he tried to wake himself up. The sun peered from behind his blinds and stared right into his eyes, leaving a soft yet annoying yellow in his vision. He sighed and sat up, stretching before shuffling his way to the kitchen for food, scratching at his stomach. 

He passed by an open door with a figure laying in it, and found himself freezing. Oh right. Rich had stayed the night. Rich was curled up in a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle blanket, his face buried in a pillow. Jeremy sighed, thank god the guy actually got some rest. He was a huge sobbing mess last night, it took a lot of teasing and sitcoms to get that sad look out of his eyes. 

Jeremy walked into the kitchen, still struggling to get that awake feeling into his body. He decided that it’s be nice to surprise Rich with some breakfast, so he began to cook some chocolate chip pancakes with bacon. 

And boy Rich must have a nose for this kinda stuff because the second Jeremy slid the pancake into a plate Rich was running into the room. 

“Dude! That smells so. Fucking. Good. What the hell?” He smiled, leaning against the kitchen counter, close to drooling and he gazed at the food.

Jeremy laughed, “Then good things it’s for you, I guess.”

Rich gasped and held his chest, “You didn’t…for me? Jer you need to save yourself for Michael!”

“On second thought maybe this pancake would be better going down the drain.”

It was nice to see some normalcy after last night, Rich happy and teasing and making inappropriate jokes. Jeremy can’t lie, he even choked on his food when he laughed hard. 

They were cut off though with a knock at the door, Jeremy excused himself to get up. He did his best to ignore Rich’s “is that your boyfriend?” and opened it up. Jake was standing there, leaning against his crutches. Jeremy frowned and leaned into the door frame, bringing the door against him so that Rich didn’t have to see. 

“Jeremy, hey uh…is Rich here?”

Jeremy nodded, trying to ignore the way Jake looked exhausted, “Yeah…he…he uh, came here last night? Upset about the fight..”

Jake cringed, “Yeah…can I see him” 

“No offense but I don’t know if he wants to see you.”

“Yo Jeremy! Who’s at the door man?” Rich called. 

Jake tried to look past the small window frame Jeremy made in the door, “Can you..ask?”

He nodded and turned away, “It’s…Jake, Rich. He wants to talk to you.”

“Oh.” 

Jeremy turned and gave Jake an awkward smile before disappearing. Jake took that moment to mentally rehearse what he was going to say again, chewing at his lip. 

Before he was ready, halfway through his rehearsal, Rich opened the door, and stared him dead in the eye. 

“…Hey.” 

Jake sighed, “Hey Rich.”

Rich crossed his arms, “You know just an apology isn’t gonna be enough, I wanna see some actual ch-”

There was a clang noise as Jake ditched his crutches, throwing his arms around Rich. He held the boy as close as he possibly could, his grip tight as if he were afraid to let go. Rich didn’t know how to react, he wasn’t expecting this at all, he stared at the others shoulder that his face was buried in. 

“…Jake?”

“Rich I am so so sorry I was such an asshole! If anyone overreacted it was me ok? Fuck…I don’t- I can’t even believe I said something so wrong and awful but and I feel awful that you’re hurt and that I hurt you and-”

“Jake, Jake babe calm down.” 

Jake took a deep breath and pulled away to face Rich, holding onto him still, “I quit all my clubs. The football team was a little upset but they’re all done with, ok? I…I know you’re probably too mad to go but I fucking miss you too, ok?” 

“Too mad to go where…?”

He smiled and held up concert tickets, “if you don’t want to go with me, you can take someone else.” 

“You’re…you’re fucking stupid Jake” but Rich was smiling, he finally returned the hug, “I’m not passing up a chance to hang with my best bro!”

“Rich I love you so much” he lifted up his chin and gave the boy a kiss on the lips, it was a short sweet contact. 

“Is that all you got?” Rich smirked, bringing the tall one down and giving him a much longer more intimate kiss. 

This continued for a while, at some point Jake pulled away to mumble an apology but Rich went right back to doing the business he missed so much. He trusted Jake to put in the effort now, and he would try to communicate more when something bothered him. Everything would be ok, especially with this dumbass that he loved. 

“Hey can you guys stop making out on my door step?”

“Sorry Jer.”


End file.
